Victims of cyberharassment and exploitation, the law enforcement agencies prosecuting their offenders, and the technology companies where so many of these incidents take place now have a new place to turn to thanks to California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who announced Wednesday the launch of an online resource hub that promises to be the first of its kind.
The attorney general’s new Cyber Exploitation online resource hub can be found at https://oag.ca.gov/cyberexploitation.
Cyber exploitation, more commonly known as “revenge porn,” is defined as the nonconsensual publication of intimate photos or videos. Harris, in her announcement Wednesday at a press conference, spoke of the need to retire the term “revenge porn,” as she said that the victims of this crime were neither engaging in pornographic acts while producing these images and videos, nor had they done anything deserving of “revenge.”
She called on California, as a technology and innovation leader, to now also begin leading as the nation’s protector of those made vulnerable and voiceless by the new technology. Harris cited her office as having been the first in the nation to prosecute a case of cyber exploitation, where the offender received eight years of prison time.
The online resource hub is “designed to be a one-stop-shop” for victims, law enforcement and interested parties in learning more about cyberharassment and resources in how to deal with it. The online site is the work of Harris’ relatively new Cyber Exploitation Task Force, formed several months ago in order to directly combat online harassment and exploitation.
A “Frequently Asked Questions” section leads victims to answers regarding how to get photos and video taken down, what penal codes are violated by their harassers, and how to file a complaint with their local law enforcement, among many other concerns.
Another initiative announced Wednesday through the Cyber Exploitation Task Force is the digital campaign #EndCyberExploitation, which will be used to spread awareness of the resource hub and the task force’s goals. The announcement was made now, in October, to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Harris said that her office worked with more than 50 tech companies, including Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo and Google, as well as law enforcement and victim advocate groups to form the task force and compile the resources for the new website.
“Let’s understand the dynamic here. It’s a new crime,” Harris said. “Technology is relatively new. We have long known how to address issues like domestic violence or assault. We’ve been doing that work, unfortunately, since the beginning of time. Cyber exploitation is a new crime.”
She also cited two new pieces of legislation that have recently been signed by Gov. Brown making it easier to prosecute cyberharassment and exploitation: SB 676 (Canella) which enables law enforcement to demand and destroy posted images, and AB 1310 (Gatto) that will allow law enforcement to specifically use a search warrant for the misdemeanor versions of cyber exploitation. It will join legislation that allows for its use in felonies. These two bills go into effect Jan. 1, 2016.
